Visit the NOAA Coastal Services Center Historical Hurricane Tracks Website to learn about historical tropical cyclones occurring in different areas located throughout the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. The Website provides information about U. S. coastal county population versus hurricane strikes as well as links to various Internet resources focusing on tropical cyclones. The interactive mapping application allows you to search the National Hurricane Center historical tropical cyclone database and graphically display storms affecting your area since 1851.
For detailed information please visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/intro.shtml
In that we are in the midst of Tornado Season in Mississippi and Hurricane Season is ahead, it would be a good idea for all Mississippi Hams engaged in emergency response to review the Mississippi Section Emergency Operations Plan.
Five Things You Always Wanted to Know about Hail . . . but were Afraid to Ask"
Over the years CoCoRaHS has become one of few repositories of hail information in the nation. Thanks to your observations, we are able to catalogue hail reports from all fifty states. As we strive to become more 'hail aware' here are five things you may or may not know about hail and maybe were afraid to ask!
1) Hail comes in many shapes and sizes, ranging from rice-sized pellets (1/8") to giant softballs (4 1/2"). Hail can be clear or white or a combination of the two. Hail can be hard or soft. Wind patterns usually form hailstones into balls, but they can also appear in other shapes, such as cones, discs, stars, pyramids, or just strange looking pointy blobs. We've even had reports of donut shaped stones!
2) On June 22, 2003, the largest hailstone ever recorded in the United States in terms of maximum circumference and length fell in Aurora, Nebraska. The stone had a diameter of 7.0 inches with a circumference of
18.75 inches and weighed 1.3 pounds. No one was injured. This eclipsed the former record, which had been held by Coffeyville, Kansas where on September 3, 1970 a stone with a circumference of 17.5 inches, 5.5 inches in diameter and 1.67 pounds struck the earth at 105 mph.
3) In North America, hail is most common on the High Plains just east of the Rocky Mountains. For example where Colorado, Nebraska, and Wyoming's borders meet just east of Cheyenne, WY there is an average of 9 to 10 hailstorms each year. Hail in this region occurs between the months of March and October mostly during the afternoon and evening hours, with the bulk of the occurrences from May through September.
4) Hail suppression has been tried by many over the years including silver iodide cloud seeding and types of rockets. "Hail cannons" whose "LOUD" acoustic burst is believed to break-up hail while it is just forming, are still being used in some areas where fruit and vegetables are grown extensively.
5) Hail is found in many countries around the world, such as China. In June 1932 a hailstorm killed an estimated 200 people, and injured thousands more there. Other countries with frequent hailstorms include southern and western Germany, northern Italy, northern India and Croatia.
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May 2010